A new foreign influence deal aims to shape American public opinion to be more pro-Israel by paying influencers hefty sums to post on social media. The American Conservative reveals that some of the first payments from the so-called Esther Project have been to evangelical Christian consultants, one with links to former Donald Trump aide Brad Parscale, who runs a right-wing media company that’s partially owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Lara Trump. Other consultants paid by the firm come from a network of evangelical Christians in Trump’s orbit that have long been cultivated by the Israeli PR professional running the effort as a facet of maintaining support for Israel among American religious conservatives.
 
The Esther Project is an influence campaign run by a company working for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to the firm’s recent disclosure with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA.) The September filings from Bridges Partners LLC, which mapped out a well-funded campaign, sparked rampant speculation about which pro-Israel American social media influencers might receive thousands of dollars to create pro-Israel content, as American popular support for Israel’s actions in Palestine continues to wane.
 
Two new, similar campaigns from Israel’s Foreign Ministry have also been launched in recent months. One will pay a California company to “geofence” attendees at Christian colleges and churches in Western U.S. states to deliver them pro-Israel ads. Another effort will give Brad Parscale $6 million to use predictive AI to create pro-Israel media for Gen Z audiences. 
 
But the Bridges Partners social media influencer campaign’s links to Parscale and evangelical Christian advisors have not yet been reported.
 
Bridges Partners’ influencer campaign runs through Havas Media Group, a Germany-based organization. Bridges Partners LLC was formed in Delaware this June by two Israeli consultants, Uri Steinberg and Yair Levi. Steinberg worked for Israel’s Ministry of Tourism for a decade and was its North American tourism commissioner from 2014 until 2018. As commissioner, he partnered with various American evangelical groups, and as an independent consultant he worked, in his own words, “as a conduit between Israeli and American entities, helping them to connect with one other, primarily with the faith-based community.” 
 
Steinberg also serves as director of CityServe Israel, a branch of California faith-based charity CityServe International that has worked with Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump several times and describes itself as a “collaborative network designed to help local churches create greater impact and offer hope in the name of Jesus. We mobilize the church to fulfill its purpose locally and globally.”
 
Steinberg has long partnered with American evangelical leaders. In 2009, he even met with leaders of Kentucky’s Creation Museum, which promotes a literal belief in creationism and the events depicted in the Bible. 
 
On Sept. 2, Bridges Partners paid the Matt Brown Group and Mark Forrester $7,880 and $2,000, respectively, for consulting. The Matt Brown Group is a Minnesota LLC that manages content for Matt Brown, an evangelist and author with 1 million followers on Facebook.
 
The co-founder of CityServe International is Dave Donaldson. He posts often about Ivanka Trump’s support for his charity on X and hosts a podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, which has featured both Steinberg and Matt Brown on another podcast on the platform. In 2021, Donaldson was on a call with national faith leaders when Trump, then exploring a run for reelection, announced the launch of a national faith advisory board to shore up his support among evangelical groups.

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